Carding machine



Nov. 5-, 1935. L ERKE ETA 2,020,050

CARDING MACHINE Filed March 4, 1933i 2 Sheets-Shet 2 glwuomtom Patented Nov. 5, 1935 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARDING MACHINE Herman L. Erke and Ervin G. Erke, St. Paul, Minn, assignors of one-fifth to Joseph F. Sheahan, St. Paul, Minn.

Application March 4, 1931, Serial No. 519,914

11 Claims. (Cl. 149-24) This invention relates to a carding machine slack an irregularity was formed which caused adapted to card furs in a manner to thoroughly waviness on the fur when run through the cardcomb out the fur and to leave it in a live and ing machine and this was very undesirable. We fiuffy condition so that the fur will be more natovercome this undesirable feature in our carding ural than has been accomplished heretofore by machine by providing means for attaching the 6 'Other carding machines. carding in a manner so that it can be readily Heretofore, carding machines have been made adjusted at any time and by securing the carding but they have a tendency to cause the fur to lay about the supporting roll in such a manner that down rather than to brush it out intoa nice it will not stretch to form a high point longitudifluffy condition and they do not thoroughly card nally through the roll but rather will incline or 10 the fur out in a simple and desirable manner as creep toward the end owing to the spiral attachwe accomplish by our improved method and merit of the carding.

means of carding furs; The details, features and further objects of the A further feature of our carding machine reinvention will be more clearly and fully set forth, sides in a means adapted to carry the hide in a In the drawings forming part of this specifica- 15 manner to bend the same so that the hair stands tion: in a radial position with respect to the center of Figure 1 is an end view of our carding machine. the feed roll means and in the operation of our Figure 2 is a side view of our carding machine. machine to comb out the for while in this posi- Figure 3 is a detail of a portion of the same. tion, and while the fur is in this position in rela- Figure 4 is a detail of the carding roll. 20 tion to the skin, it is again carded out by a smaller Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 4. carding roll means so that the fur is thoroughly Our carding machine A is formed with a frame carded in a manner to cause the same to comb and supporting standard 13 made of suitable frame out in a fluffy condition which is very desirable members, such as it, bolted together so as to supin the fur industry as the furs come from our port the carding machineA on the floor in opera- 25 carding machine looking more natural and yet tive position. having been thoroughly carded so as to put the The carder A is formed with a feed table l2 fur in a fine condition. carried by the bracket l3 which is mounted upon It is also a feature to provide a guard means the base B. The feed board i2 is adapted to slide which prevents the skin and fur from wrapping back and forth on the bracket l3 and is operated 30 about the carding roll which frequently happens by the foot pedal H! which is connected by the on a machine of this nature where our improved operating link l5 to the crank arm 16. The crank guard means is not employed. When the skin arm I6 is pivoted on a bracket ll between its ends wraps itself about the carding roll in this manner, and the end it! of the same extends up to engage it is very apt to become'torn and thus valuable between suitable lugs l9 on the bottom of the feed 35 skins may easily be ruined by passing them board I2. Thus when the treadle i4 is operated through ordinary carding machines as heretofore the feed board I2 may be moved back into the used. We entirely overcome this undesirable feadotted position illustrated in Figure 3. The feed ture in that our guards are so arranged as to preboard carries one of the feeding rolls 20 with it in vent the skin from wrapping about the carding its movement and by this structure the fur may 40 roll. be readily laid on the feed board and fed beneath We provide an adjustable feed means or table the feeding roll 2| when the fur is fed into the which may be readily moved away from the main carder A. or large carding roll and then when it is desir- The feed rolls 2!! and 2| are positioned as illus- 45. able the feed board or table can be pushed close trated in Figure 3 when in operation to carry the to the carding roll so as to carry on the carding fur through the carding machine A. The feed roll with the skin bent in a manner to open up the 2! is mounted in the sliding bearing 22 which is fur to the large carding roll. carried by the frame 2-3 and by means of the .A feature of our invention resides in means for spring 24 which is adjusted by the screw 25 the attaching carding to the supporting roll to permit tension on the feed roll 2! may be varied as 59 easy adjustment of the carding when it is necesdesired. sary. In use, the carding is inclined to stretch A large carding roll C which is carried by the from time to time and it may be found necessary shaft 26 is positioned adjacent to the feeding to tighten the same over the supporting roll. In rolls 20 and 2E when the same are in operative former carding machines if the carding became position so as to carry the skin and fur being 55 carded from the feed rolls to be engaged by the carding roll C. A second smaller carding roll D is provided in the carding machine A which is positioned directly below the feed roll 2| so that the axis of the feed roll 2| and the axis of the carding roll D are virtually in line. The carding roll D is supported by the shaft 21, the ends of which are mounted in suitable bearings carried by the frame B, as is also true of the bearings supporting the card roll C. In the drawings we have illustrated the broken line 28 which indicates the travel of the skin with the fur to be carded past the carding wheels C and D. It will be noted that the structure of our carding machine A is such that a peculiar carding action is obtained which we believe gives an efliciency to our carding machine over former machines used heretofore for carding. The advantage of our carding machine A resides in the passing of the skin past several carding rolls. In the first carding operation the skin is bent around the feed roll 20 as illustrated by the broken line 28 which also indicates by an arrow the travel of the skin. The arrows in Figure 3 indicate the travel of the card rolls C and D. When the skin is carried over the roll 20 it is bent to open the fur so that the carding roll C may be more effective and the hair be caused to stand out radially over the feed roll 20. The skin then travels from the carding roll C to and over the small carding roll D.

The operation of the two carding rolls C and D is such as to open the fur exposing it thoroughly to the large carding roll C which travels at approximately a ratio of sixty revolutions to one revolution of the small roll D. In this manner the skins or pelts, such as 28, are thoroughly carded so that the fur is caused to stand out in a fiuify manner, making a very complete carding operation by once passing the skins or pelts 28 through our carding machine A.

The carding 30 on the rolls C and D is adapted to be wrapped with a spiral formation such as is illustrated in Figure 4 so that the carding will extend from one end to the other of the wooden roll 3|. This wooden roll is formed in two or more portions and is mounted upon the shafts 26 and 21 respectively. By dividing the wooden roll 3|, different size wooden rolls can be applied to the shafts for different size carding rolls. At the end of the wooden roll 3|, we provide a collar 32 which is rigidly secured and of the proper size, and by means of a clamping plate 33 the end of the carding may be attached to the collar 32. This clamping plate 33 is adapted to clamp the end of the carding 30 so as to hold the same adjustable. In use, when the carding 30 stretches the same may be tightened by loosening the clamp plate 33 and taking up the. slack. This may be readily accomplished and by winding the spiral of the carding in the proper direction in respect to the rotation of the rolls C and D, the carding 30 will have a tendency to creep toward one end, tightening itself around the roll as it rotates in operation, and thereby preventing any ridges or wrinkles longitudinally of the shafts of the rolls C and D. This is important because any unevenness of the carding roll has a tendency to make the same visible upon the fur of the skins or pelts passed through the carding machine. The carding 30 is provided with the usual fine metal bristles 34 which thoroughly card the pelt and with the peculiar formation and arrangement of the parts in our carding machine A fur is made to appear very natural with a live flufiy appearance.

The carding rolls C and D are covered by a. suitable casing 35 which is connected to a suction pipe 36 so that any dust or dirt is drawn away from the rolls in the operation of the carding rolls C and D. We also provide guard blades 5 31 which are carried by the member 38 which are spaced about an inch apart and positioned adjustable in relation to the carding roll D so that as the pelt or skin 28 passes around the carding wheel D the guard blades 31 prevent the skin from wrapping around the carding roll D and cause the same to be projected away from the surface of the carding roll D. These guards prevent the skin from being torn or damaged and form an important feature in carrying out the carding operation of our machine A.

The carding rolls C and D, together with the feed rolls and 2| may be operated in any suitable manner. We have illustrated a driving pulley 40 which is carried by the frame B and which 20 may be driven by any suitable source of power, such as an electric motor or other means of propulsion, so as to operate the shaft 4| which carries the driving pulley 4|) at the desired speed.

A driving belt 42 extends over the pulley 43 which operates the shaft 26. This operates the large carding wheel C at a high rate of speed.

A smaller pulley 44 carried by the shaft 4| drives the belt 45 which operates the pulley 46 carried by the shaft 41. The shaft 41 is provided with suitable sprocket wheels which drive the link belts 48 and 49, respectively. The belt 48 operates the shaft 2! which rotates the carding roll D, while the belt 49 operates the shaft 50 which operates the feed roll 2|.

In operation our carding machine A receives a pelt or skin, the fur of which is to be carded by the rolls C and D upon the feed table |2. The table 2 is operated by the foot treadle l4 and a suitable spring, such as 5|, holds the treadle I4 normally in upper position with the feed table l2 in operative position with the roll 20 directly below the feed roll 2 In this position the skin or pelt 28 is carried to the large carding wheel C, the fur of which is opened up by wrapping virtually half way around the feed roll 20 and then the skin is bent back to extend over the carding roll D traveling in the direction of the arrows, being freed by the guards 31 and passing down out of the carding machine A. The operation is fast and thorough and a pelt carded by our machine A has a very live and fluffy appearance to the fur, the fur being thoroughly carded and cleaned in virtually a single operation.

The primary object of our carding machine A is to comb out the furs and at the same time leaving them in a fluffy life-like condition. Our several carding rolls accomplish results of extreme importance in carrying out the principles and successful operation of our carding machine A. Obviously more carding rolls may be employed if it is desirable, it not being necessary to show the same as the principles would be along the same line as hereinbefore pointed out and described.

In accordance with the patent statutes we have described the principles of our carding machine and the method of carding skins and pelts where it is desirable to thoroughly card the fur and cleanse the same. While we have illustrated a particular formation of our apparatus for carrying out the principles of the carding we desire to have it understood that the same is only suggestive and that variations may be made within the scope of the appending claims.

We claim:

1. The combination, a feeding means for a skin and pelt, a carding roll positioned in a manner to ,manner to cause the pelt to wrap partly around said feeding means to open thefur of the pelt to the action of said first carding roll, and guard rn'eans extending beneath the surface of the second carding roll for disengaging the pelt from said second carding roll.

3. A carding machine including, a multiplicity of carding rolls having fine steel bristles for carding the fur of a pelt, means for operating said rolls at different rotative speeds, and means for feeding the pelt into engagement with said carding rolls to thoroughly card the pelt.

l. A carding machine including a multiplicity of carding rolls, a pelt feeding means, means for operating said pelt feeding means to open the same to receive a pelt, said pelt feeding means being positioned in relation to said carding rolls in a manner to first open the fur of the pelt to the action of said first carding roll, and then carry the pelt over the second carding roll, and means for driving said cardingrolls at different peripheral speeds.

5. A carding machine comprising, a feed table, means for operating said feed table into and out of operative position, a feeding roll carried by the inner edge of said table, an adjustable spring urged second feeding rool beneath which a pelt is adapted to be carried, a large carding r011 in front of said first feed roll carried by said table, a small carding roll beneath said feed table and directly below said first feeding roll around a portion of which the pelt is fed, means for driving said large carding roll at a high rate of speed, and means for driving said small carding roll at a comparatively low speed in relation to said first carding roll to produce a higher peripheral speed on said larger roll whereby the fur of a pelt is thoroughly carded passing in contact with said carding rolls and the fur is caused to extend with a fluffy life-like appearance.

6. A carding machine comprising, a pelt receiving table, means for moving said table into open position, a feeding roll carried by said table, a second feeding roll adapted to co-operate with said first feeding roll on said table when said table is in operative position to feed a pelt into carding position, a carding roll adjacent the feeding roll carried by said table when said table is in operative position, a second carding roll positioned below and in front of said first carding roll to carry the pelt from said first carding roll in a manner to wrap the same partly about the feeding roll carried by said table, means for driving the respective carding rolls at relatively different peripheral speeds, and means extending beneath the surface of the second carding roll for freeing the pelt from the last carding roll with which it contacts to prevent the pelt from wrapping thereabout.

7. A fur carding machine including, means for receiving and feeding a fur pelt into carding operation, carding rolls, one of which is adapted to engage the fur of the pelt while the pelt is bent to open the fur, the other carding roll engaging the fur while the pelt is bent in the opposite direction, whereby the fur of the pelt is carded to extend in a fluffy life-like condition.

8. A carding machine including, an upper feeding roll, a slidably mounted lower feeding roll cooperating with said upper feeding roll in feeding position, a lower carding roll below said feeding rolls having its axis substantially in the same vertical plane as the axes of said feeding rollers, and a second carding roll in the line of slidable movement of said slidable feeding roll, so that fur passing between said feeding r-olls may be forced with more or less pressure against this carding roll.

9. A carding machine including, .a movable table, a feeding roller secured to said table and movable therewith, a carding roll in the path of said table against which said feeding roller in operative position may force a pelt, .a second carding roll below and in substantially the same vertical plane as said feeding roller in operative position, and means for moving said table into open position wherein a pelt placed over said feed roller and depending therefrom will drop clear of said lower carding roll.

10. A carding machine including, a table, a feed roller secured thereto, a carding roll, a portion of which is horizontally aligned with said table, a second carding roll below and in substantially the same horizontal plane as said feeding roller, and means for moving said table away from said rolls until a pelt depending over said feed roller will clear the lower roll.

11. A carding machine including, a movable table, a carding roll extending in the path of said table, a second carding roll below a portion of said table, a feed roller secured to said table cooperable to feed .a pelt against the surface of each of said carding rolls, and means for moving said table out of engagement with each of said carding rolls so that a pelt depending over said feed roller will be threaded between said feed roller and each of said carding rolls when said table is moved into operative position.

HERMAN L. ERKE. ERVIN G. ERKE. 

